Opinion | The Politics Of Lighting A Lamp In Kerala

A recent episode that sparked debate was the decision of Fathima Thahiliya, a first-time MLA, to light a lamp while inaugurating a function.

Lighting a lamp to formally inaugurate an event or occasion does not have anything inherently religious about it. It is a secular gesture, and the symbolism it embodies is plain for everyone to see. “May the event that is about to begin shine like this lamp" is a simple message that anyone can understand, and one would have to be an idiot to miss it. It is a far more meaningful and subtle gesture than cutting a ribbon.

In Kerala, however, lighting a lamp for an inauguration is not as simple as it seems. Whenever a traditional lamp, the Nilavilakku, is lit at a public function, many Muslim guests abstain from lighting it. Politicians ranging from MPs to ministers have publicly stated that they will not light a lamp, as they believe it is prohibited by their religion. Occasionally, some Muslims do participate in the lamp-lighting ceremony, but when that happens, there is often a strong backlash from some mullahs and religious leaders, who argue that they have made a mistake. Some leftist intellectuals will soon join the bandwagon, arguing that an obviously Hindu symbol is being artificially secularised by the Hindutva brigade. They may also question the practice of lighting a lamp in broad daylight or in a brightly lit auditorium, seeing it as an empty ritual detached from its original practical purpose.

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A recent episode that sparked debate was the decision of Fathima Thahiliya, a first-time MLA, to light a lamp while inaugurating a function. In the past, veteran Muslim politicians and ministers such as PK Kunhalikutty and PK Abdu Rabb had declined to perform the same act, citing religious reasons.

Thahiliya’s gesture was particularly significant because she is not only a first-time legislator but also the first woman MLA from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). It was perhaps inevitable that her act would draw criticism from conservative religious circles. Several Islamic scholars in the state condemned the move, with the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, one of Kerala’s most influential bodies of Islamic scholars, issuing a statement that lighting Nilavilakku is not a Muslim custom and that Muslims should refrain from such practices. Most Islamic scholars in Kerala now view the lighting of a lamp to inaugurate a public function as an exclusively Hindu........

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